The week of Jan. 27-31.

It will be good to get back to a full week of school!  The kids are needing that routine again.

We have had fun with Gingerbread activities today!  I'm sure the scavenger hunt was the best!  Ask your child about it.  What did we find at the end of the hunt!

100's Day will be this Friday!  Several kids have already brought in their two 100 collections.  One being a food snack that is not wrapped and another of 100 items that can fit in a baggie.  Please make sure that your child is doing the counting not parents or siblings.  This is a great time to see if they can do it on their own yet.  If they need help, then please help them, but don't count for them!  We talked about counting by ones, tens ( you would have ten piles of ten things), or even 20 piles of 5 if they want to challenge themselves to count by 5's!  Please write their name on the baggie and make sure to have it here by Friday!  Thanks!

This week we are on the letter Dd and the sight words:  that, her.  

We are reading the tale, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".  This is a great tale to talk about how it's hard to know when they are really sick if they are just saying it to get out of class or to get attention.  Or I have caught kids telling tall tales about something to get attention or a reaction, and then I don't know what's true if they are telling the truth.  It's a good book to remind your child at home too, if you catch them telling a tall tale.

Math--We will be taking our Topic 6 math test tomorrow over Numbers to 100.  
Our next Topic 7 is over Understanding Addition.  We will begin by counting groups together, using "and" and "is" instead of a + or =.  

Kansas Day Activities will be on Kansas Day this Wednesday.  

Coming up!
Jan. 29                      Kansas Day Activities

Jan. 31                      100th Day of School!!

Feb. 1                        Books and Bling Dance at MTMS . 6 pm

Feb. 12                      Valentine's Party 11:15-11:50, Dismiss at 12:10, P/T conferences 4:15-8:00

Feb. 13                      P/T conferences all day--No School

Feb. 14/17                 No School

Feb. 21                      PTA  Family Movie Night 7 pm

Fun times in the IS!

We had 15 people that were born in Kansas and 6 who weren't.

It's the most I've ever had not born in Kansas!

Gingerbread Man/Girl comparison

The week of Jan. 21-24,

We had a great time making our Kansas symbol clips today!  The kids are not fearful at all! They all knew what fact(s) to say and it ran smoothly!  Our District Instructional Specialist, Nichole Gurwell, led the kids on what to do.  It was so much fun to watch them!  You will get to see your child's clip at conferences!  Thank you again for your help at home!

This week in reading the letters are soft Gg and hard Gg.  There is so much to do with both sounds this week and it's already a short week with yesterday off!  I sure hope we don't have anymore days off with the bad weather coming in again.

I like to have fun reading several different Gingerbread Man books.  Today we read, "The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School" and "The Ninjabread Man".  We will also read, "The Gingerbread Man Loose in School", " The Gingerbread Girl", and the original, "Gingerbread Man".  We will compare and contrast the characters, setting, and refrain (the repeated verse) of the latter two stories.

On Friday I have a special scavenger hunt planned to find the Gingerbread Man.  Shh!  it's a secret!

sight words:  from, one . (Please keep helping your child work on learning their 3rd quarter sight words!)

Math this week!  We are working on finding patterns on a 100's chart.  We are learning to recognize when we are counting by ones starting with a random number or when we are counting by 10's beginning with a different number than 10.  We do not have to learn how to count by 5's in KDG, but we practice it at calendar and most can do it!

Last week some of us were ready to write all the way to 100 by themselves without  any help, which means they will be able to count to 100 too!  What an accomplishment!

Kansas packets--This week we are learning about the Kansas Seal and the Kansas Flag.  We will find out what "Ad Astra Per Aspera" means at the top of the seal. "Through the Stars With Difficulties".  January 29, 1861 is the year Kansas became a state, is at the bottom of the seal.  The seal also has 34 stars representing Kansas being the 34th state.   The picture also has the covered wagon, a man plowing with his horses, bison in a field, and a cabin overlooking the horizon.   There's a lot happening on the seal that we forget is on it!

We will be finding Kansas on the map, along with its bordering states.  Then, we will find our county on the map of 105 Kansas counties.

There's just so much to learn about Kansas!  We will also graph who was born in Kansas and is called a Jayhawker, and who is not born in Kansas and what they are called.

100's Day!  Right now we will celebrate Kansas Day on it's birthday since we had the snow day and 100's day is pushed back to Jan. 30.  Some of you were sure on the ball this weekend getting the 100 collections done and sent back to school!  Feel free to do those ahead of time and check it off your list!

Coming up!
Jan. 29                      Kansas Day Activities

Jan. 30                      100th Day of School!!

Feb. 1                        Books and Bling Dance at MTMS . 6 pm

Feb. 12                      Valentine's Party 11:15-11:45, Dismiss at 12:10, P/T conferences 4:15-8:00

Feb. 13                      P/T conferences all day--No School

Feb. 14/17                 No School

Feb. 21                      PTA  Family Movie Night 7 pm

The week of Jan. 13-17.

Thank heavens the snow is not "sticking" around!  We need to get out for fresh air!!
I appreciate dressing your children appropriately when it's cold.  It really helps with outdoor recess.  Thank you!

Also, thank you to the parents that were able to come in and read to the kids at the Book Bash and donate the gummy worms for a treat!  They had so much fun!  See pics below!

We have been learning a lot about Kansas Day Symbols.  I will be sending home a note today asking where your child was born and what the state symbol is like our Kansas symbol-the Jayhawk, for those born in Kansas.  Please fill it out and send it back by this Friday, Jan. 17.

The Kansas symbols we are learning about this week are:  The State Bird--The Western Meadowlark, State Insect--The Honeybee, The State Reptile--The Ornate Box Turtle, The State Amphibian--The Barred Tiger Salamander, and The State Fish--The Catfish.  

Reading this week!  We are reading short stories on learning a lesson.  Today we read a story about how teamwork is better than solving a problem alone.

Letter of the week:  short Ee . (short e word families, such as; --ed, --en, --et) . Make some short e word families at home.  (Ted, fed, shed)

Sight words:  3rd quarter words--for, his

Handwriting--We have begun writing lowercase letters.

Last name--Very soon we will be working on writing our last names with a capital at the beginning and lowercase for the rest of the letters.  Please begin having your child work on this at home, if they do not already know how to write their last name.

Math this week--Today we began our Topic on Numbers to 100!  We will begin learning about patterns when counting and writing numbers, how to count to 50, filling in blanks on a 100 chart, and eventually writing 1 to 100!

100's Day!  Right now our 100th Day of School falls on Jan. 29, which happens to be Kansas' birthday.  We do lots of activities on Kansas Day, but our 100's Day celebration will be on Jan. 29 and the Kansas Day activities will be on Jan. 30.  It is more important to celebrate how to make 100 after leading up to it since day 1 of school!  If we have a snow day before Jan. 29, our 100's Day celebration will be on Jan. 30.  A note will be coming home this week about 100's Day collections to bring to school.  We are so excited to celebrate!  The kids found out today that 100's Day is not the last day of Kindergarten!  😀

Imagination Station--We have a few changes in stations.  Check out the pictures below!

Coming up!

Jan. 20                        No School-MLK Day

Jan. 29                      100th Day of School!!

Jan. 30                      Kansas Day Activities

Feb. 1                        Books and Bling Dance at MTMS . 6 pm

Feb. 12                      Valentine's Party 11:15-11:45, Dismiss at 12:10, P/T conferences 4:15-8:00

Feb. 13                      P/T conferences all day--No School

Feb. 14/17                 No School

Feb. 21                      PTA  Family Movie Night 7 pm

Puppet Theater in Imagination Station

Big Blocks in the Sensory Station

More Magnatiles in Construction!

Book Bash Pics!

The week of Jan. 6-10.

Happy New Year to all of you!  We are officially halfway through Kindergarten!  I just noticed a huge difference in all student's coloring in the lines today!  The little things that excite a KDG teacher!  Ha!
It sounds like everyone had a wonderful Christmas break!

Grade cards will be on Skyward on Friday after school.  Please look at the skills and comments and let me know if you have any questions.  I do take a lot of time to fill in comments about your child's progress because I want you to understand why they got the scores I gave them.  So, please take time to read the comments and converse with your child about them so they also understand the importance of working hard at school and to understand the point of a grade card.

Please return December Book it Calendars by Wednesday for your child to receive their Pizza Hut Coupon!  January calendars were sent out before the break.

Friday is another fun day in our class, as we have the Book Bash!  I have 4 parents who've graciously offered to come in and read to the children in 4 stations.  The kids can wear their PJ's and bring a small pillow or blanket to lay on while listening to the readers.  Your child can also bring their favorite book from home to look at during our "read to self" station.  They are just little "bookworms" learning how to read!  I am amazed at their progress from the beginning of the year!  I would like to treat our "bookworms" with a special gummy worm treat to eat while they are reading their books.  Would anyone be willing to donate 2 worms a piece in individual baggies for Friday?  

Reading this week!  We are reading a fiction book called, "Munching Millie" about a goat that eats everything until a plan is formed.  We will be looking for nouns and verbs in our story, and talk about where they are in sentence structure.  

3rd quarter sight words!  We are beginning our 3rd quarter sight words!  If your child has not passed 2nd quarter, please work on those until they are mastered.  

Sight word:  had
Letter:  Rr, ar-r controlled vowel.

Check out Spelling City on the right side of the blog for your child to play games to learn their 1st-3rd quarter sight words!  Another way to make learning them fun!

Social Studies:  Kansas Symbols--We will be talking about our Kansas Symbols this month gearing up for Kansas Day on Jan. 29.  This week we are learning about:  the state flower:  sunflower, the state tree-Cottonwood tree, the state animal--The American Bison, and the Jayhawk as the symbol for those that were born in Kansas.  

Math this week!  We are on Topic 15--Position and location of shapes--(inside, outside, above, below, on, in front of, behind, left and right).  This seems to be an easy concept for most.

Coming up!

Jan. 10                       Book Bash and Grades Posted

Jan. 20                        No School-MLK Day
Jan. 29                       Kansas Day Activities